Sunday, May 24, 2015

One participant in the Southern Mountains’ Revenue Wars’ of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries stands out. He has been described as the most famous man of
whom you’ve never heard. He epitomizes Appalachia’s resistance to unjust
authority. Not only did he essentially lead a war of evasion of which
the likes of John Rambo would be proud, he lived to tell about it.
Redmond is a shining example of the state-repellant qualities of the
southern mountains.

The man who came to be known as “King of the Moonshiners” life is
partially shrouded in myth. Accounts of his life vary greatly, largely
because he was a leading cause du jour of fictitious dime novels of the 1870’s and 80’s, but the basic facts of his exploits remain true.

Lewis Redmond was most likely born in the northern corner of Georgia
where it meets Western North Carolina on the eve of the War of Northern
Aggression in the 1850’s, although some sources claim he was born in
Swain County, NC.

People throw the phrase ‘battle rifle’ or ‘battle carbine’ around and
it always sounds a little…weird…to me. I suppose you may want to
differentiate between youre hunting rifle that you knock down deer with
and your ‘just in case’ FAL thats sitting in the closet, but ‘battle
rifle’ always sounds kinda hokey. But..what else do you call it? Your
‘social rifle’? I usually just call it a ‘rifle’ and, maybe, depending
on the context, ‘defensive rifle’. Anyway, Friend Of The Blog, Ryan at TSLRF, has been mulling a .308 defensive rifle. I threw my two cents in and suggested the PTR.

The
PTR is a fairly accurate copy of the HK91. There are several copies of
HK rifles out there, and there are a few ‘niche’ or ’boutique’ makers
who make a very nice (and very expensive) product, but in terms of
mass-market stuff its either Century or PTR. My feelings on Century is
that it is the ballistic equivalent of treasure hunting at the sight of
old outhouses….you might find a jewel once in a while, but most of the
time what you find is crap. (Not withstanding their new milled AK which I
may have to get two or three of.)

Personally, I rather like
the FAL. But economically, if you’re wanting a .308 semiauto for the day
the wheels fly of civilization, and you’re on a budget, you would be
hard pressed to find a better value.

Eliminating the exotic
stuff, here’s the rundown of whats available in .308 these days that
fits the bill and isn’t some super-rare oddball thing (like a .308 Galil
or Valmet): AR-10, FAL, PTR, M1A and maybe one of the AK-pattern .308s.
I’m limiting this discussion to stuff based on platforms that have been
around a while…the AR-10 being the newest. Stuff like the KelTec RFB or
other gunny-come-lately need to be around for a while so we can see if
they have legs or not.

Whats your budget for the gun and it’s
necessary gear? Well, let’s say, mmmm, $1250. Let’s also not cheap out
and go with the absolute cheapest [rifle/mag/etc] we can find. We want
what works. So, while the Century FrankenFAL may be 1/2 the price of a
DSA, it is not a contender because it’s simply a crapshoot in terms of
its manufacture. LWRC and SIG don’t have anything for less than $1250 at
the moment. S&W has some ‘bargain’ AR-10 rifles but nothing on
Gunbroker is less than $1250, and while Remington makes one as well I’m
holding off on any of their new stuff until they get their act together
in terms of QC.

A basic rifle suitable for defensive use, not a target, match or hunting gun:

So now ISIS have taken control of the ancient city of Palmyra, biblical
Tadmor in Syria. Palmyra (city of palms) or Tadmor is home to some of
the world’s most magnificent ruins while government troops have almost
entirely withdrawn, leaving the city, its people and its priceless ruins
in the hands of ISIS, which after this victory, ISIS now controls half
of the entire nation of Syria. This in addition, ISIS took control of
Ramadi, a city in Iraq’s Anbar Province while the US military says it is
sending 1,000 anti-tank missiles to the Iraqi government following the
fall of that city. Who knows, most likely such missiles will also fall
in the hand of ISIS since ISIS, as reported in Tadmor, was able to win
their victory as a result of using the TOW missiles to take that city.

What we all have in common here on the Collector's Forum is a passion
for firearms. We share in the history, development, implementation and
geopolitical consequences.

But before the first gun was shouldered some time in the 15th century,
gunpowder had been throwing fire and projectiles for at least 200 years.
And an infantry soldier could use a gonne.
I won't get into the debate of whether gunpowder was first formulated
in China or Europe. Instead, I'd like to show you what I found at a
yardsale today.

It appears to be an eight-shot hand gonne
(handgonne, hand cannon), which could be utilized by an individual or in
tandem. It's well aged piece of cast iron, and missing its handle. The
pole could be braced against the ground or another solid object, or held
underarm to absorb recoil. This one could be equipped with eight loads
of powder, rocks, ceramic, lead or iron shot. It has nine fuse holes,
and could be ignited with flame, coals or slow burning match.

Not very accurate, and not meant for long range. But it had to be quite an attention getter when it was first used in battle.

My best google-fu identifies mine as Chinese, and from the late 15th to
early 17th century. I may be way off! And anyone with any better
information, please be free to add to this early hand cannon topic.

Paul Riddell had a shitty winter. He lost his Minnesota home to a fire one night this past February.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire. The house was a total loss, though.

“I lost pretty much everything,” he says.

Aside from all his family’s other possessions, he lost three firearms in the blaze. But, he reports his Aimpoint PRO mounted
on a Spikes lower/BCM-EAG lightweight upper frankenrifle somehow
survived the fire. That’s it in the inset photo of his rifle above, red
dot glowing defiantly. Aimpoint found out about it and already swapped
it for a brand new optic and with a plan to display the survivor in its
museum.

“Here’s a picture of my AR after it was recovered from my
house fire after being exposed to the elements for over a month in late
February to mid March,” said Riddell. “The rifle was at the core of the
fire.”

Mitch McConnell staged an epic gamble over U.S. spying powers — and lost.

The Republican leader pledged to keep senators in Washington through
the weekend to finish work on expiring provisions of the Patriot Act,
but Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called his bluff.

Instead, when the smoke cleared in the early hours of Saturday morning, the 2016 presidential contender was the one with bragging rights.

The battle between the two Kentucky Republicans spilled over on the
Senate floor, with Paul using procedural tactics to force the chamber
into an early Saturday vote. He then used his leverage to kill off
McConnell’s repeated attempts to reauthorize the expiring National
Security Agency (NSA) programs — first for two months, then for eight
days, then for five, then three, then two.

The best place to hide a leaf is in a forest. The best place to hide
the truth about what happened six days ago in the parking lot of the
Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco is in the river of non sequitars and lies a
Minnie Pearl clone named W. Patrick Swanton has been spitting at the
press all week.

Swanton is the press officer for the Waco Police Department. On the
one hand he promises “transparency.” On the other hand he modestly
allows that he is unfazed by the personal danger that a vast and
underreported biker threat poses to Texas police, politicians and
citizens. Swanton has been the sole, quotable source of information
about what happened last week so reporters have had no choice but to
quote him. It is either quote Swanton or leave all that blank, white
space around the furniture store ads.

Swanton’s refusal to answer the questions people want answered has
led to increasingly bizarre speculation. Today’s chuckle of the day, if
one can chuckle about this tragedy, is, “A new Foreign Intelligence
Service (SVR) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that the
Obama regime’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deliberately
massacred at least 9 innocent motorcycle enthusiasts on 17 May over
fears that one of the clubs participating in a yearly rally in Waco,
Texas, could possibly be linked to the Night Wolves.”

The
racialists in power have again called us to an “honest discussion”
about race. As they foresee it, this honest discussion will involve
those of us who do not practice racism, but are not black, to come
forward, confess our inherent racism, and be duly chastised or punished.
Dialogue is not going to be part of the process, since non-blacks have
already been found guilty, and the president’s jury is not remotely
interested in evidence.

The
trap in the president’s faux invitation is that it focuses our
attention on the wrong component. The emphasis on race assumes too much,
but does so because it advances the agenda of dividing us on grand
scales, which is more conducive to the illusion of victimhood and the
cure of entitlement. To divide by race in the way practiced by the
president and the left enables them to hide one set of social realities
from scrutiny, while predetermining the fault of another social set,
based entirely on the colors of their skin, as long as it is understood
that the guilty are not black. How is it possible that two or more
groups, coincidentally divided by skin color, live in the same country
but do not live in the same reality?

To
hear our black, democratically elected president tell it, our dystopian
nation is a hellhole of virulent racism. Thus, every thought, word or
action that is critical of the president, and those who peddle racial
victimhood and entitlement, is inherently racist.

This is the rationale
of a leftist, of a simpleton, because there is far too much history and
evidence to the contrary to entertain it as serious. No nation on Earth
more consciously ensures equality of treatment than ours.

Via Charlie "Brock, I read this in the Washington Post last night. Considering the source it's an amazing confirmation of what individuals have reported on your blog."

Richie was the first to die, then Diesel, then Dog.

Whatever
else they were in life, the men with the biker nicknames were Cossacks,
loud and proud and riders in a Texas motorcycle gang. And that’s what
got them killed, shot to death in a brawl with a rival gang in the
parking lot of a Texas “breastaurant” that advertised hot waitresses and
cold beer.

“I
saw the first three of our guys fall, and we started running,” said
their brother in arms, another Cossack, who said he was there May 17 when the shooting started at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. Nine bikers died, 18 were wounded and more than 170 landed in jail.

The
Cossack, president of a North Texas chapter of the motorcycle gang,
asked not to be identified because he is now in hiding and said he fears
for his life. He is a rare eyewitness speaking publicly about the Waco
massacre, one of the worst eruptions of biker-gang violence in U.S.
history.

Three years after it disappeared,
Nathan Bedford Forrest’s bust is back atop a monument erected in his
honor at Old Live Oak Cemetery.

Over a decade since the unveiling of the original Forrest bust, a
second ceremony was held Saturday by the United Daughters of the
Confederacy and the Friends of Forrest to honor the Civil War general.
When the red curtain covering the new monument was removed, cannons were
fired and cheers erupted from the crowd of 100 or more.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the general is back,” exclaimed Pat Godwin,
president of chapter 53 of the UDC and the Friends of Forrest.

Isn’t this the most delicious irony ever?
Last week, according to the Washington Times, hired
protesters who haven’t been paid held a sit-in at the Missourians
Organizing for reform Now (MORE) offices and posted a demand letter
online. Similarly, protesters with the Black Lives Matter movement have
started a #CutTheCheck hashtag and held a sit-in at the offices for the
successor group to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform
Now (ACORN) in Missouri after the group allegedly stopped paying them.
MORE has been paying protestors $5,000 per month to demonstrate in
Ferguson.

The owner of the Don Carlos restaurant has already filed a
lawsuit against the parent company of the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.

In the lawsuit, the owner of Don Carlos makes a shocking allegations. He claims that “thousands of rounds of bullets” were fired.
He says that his restaurant has multiple bullet holes. He also says
that four cars in his parking lot each have multiple bullet holes.

Note that none of the bikers involved are alleged to have used a
rifle. Any weapon and ammo used would have been something they had
concealed on their person.

At least 22 police officers were already present at the scene to
monitor a meeting of the Confederation of Clubs and Independents.

New statements by Sgt Swanton reveal that fourteen members of the Waco police department opened fire. All
fourteen have been placed on administrative leave. The
police affidavit indicates that at least four of the fatalities were
killed by police.

Security video shows most of the 200+ bikers were fleeing for their lives.

Remembrance

To die for one’s country is not only an act of bravery, it is THE act of bravery. For soldiers, it is just an extension of their military career, a part of their duty. As leaders have asked their soldiers to sacrifice themselves for the good of the society, it is only right for leaders to go through the same motion. They should practice what they have preached.

As war is seen as a noble act, tu sat serves as redemption in case of defeat. It is also a way to tell the enemy: “You might have won the battle/war but you don’t deserve to win because you don’t have the chinh nghia (just cause).” And it is not only just cause: it is the moral belief that the cause they are fighting for deserves their total sacrifice. Continues below

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Core Creek Militia

==============================My sixth great grandfather, his wife, and five of his six children were killed in battle with the Tuscarora Indians at Core Creek, NC.

The Seven Blackbirds

==============================My third great grandfather was an Ensign in the Revolutionary War, and saved his unit's flag after being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. He was also at Kingston (Kinston), Wilmington, Charleston, Two Sisters and Augusta. He was at the defeat at Brier Creek and also Bee Creek.

Requiem Aeternam -
Eternal Rest Grant unto Them
==============================
My second great grandfather was killed in action on May 3, 1863 at the Battle of Chancellorsville.
=============================
My great grandfather and great uncle knew all the men in the "Civil War Requiem" video as they were part of the 53rd NC which was the sole unit defending Fort Mahone. (Fort Mahone was named "Fort Damnation" by the Yankees) *Handpicked men of the 53rd (My great grandfather was one of these) made the final, night assault at Petersburg in an attempt to break Grant's line. This was against Fort Stedman which was a few miles to the slight northeast. They initially succeeded, but reinforcements drove them back. This video is made from photographs which were taken the day after the 53rd evacuated the lines the night before to begin the retreat to Appomattox. I have many more pictures taken by the same photographer, one of these shows a 14 year old boy and the other is the famous picture of the blond, handsome soldier with his musket.
===========================
*General Gordon promised the men a gold medal and 30 days leave if they accomplished their task and many years after the War my great grandfather wrote General Gordon, who was then governor of Georgia about this incident. They exchanged several letters which I have framed. See first link below.
===========================
*The Attack On Fort Stedman
============================
"His Colored Friends"
============================
Lee's Surrender
=============================
My Black NC Kinfolks
============================
Punished For Being Caught!

Great Grandfather Koonce

He was a drummer boy in the WBTS, survived the War only to die a few years later. He was caught in an ice storm on his way home, but instead of seeking shelter, continued on his horse until the end. His clothes had to be cut off and he died a few days later.